Nightingale
by Iellix
Summary: ..Post KH2, minimal spoilers.. The inital high of being home is over and exhaustion sets in. Wounds begin the long healing process. RikuZephyr, for those of you who remember her. K for some mild language and matureish themes.


Before you make unnecessary remarks about me not finishing things before starting others, allow me to defend myself by saying I have the attention span of a gnat. The VL is back and all I really have to say now in defense of my story is: you knew it was coming. Did you really think that I could keep her out of it forever? Nope. I kept her dormant for a little while so I would know whether she could continue her relationship with Riku or if she would gracefully bow out of the picture.

The kingdom of Riku/Zephyr continues. Their stories might be a little different but the relationship itself is still the same. I think she's matured a little, because I have as well. For the sake of the story, Riku and Zephyr are seventeen and eighteen, respectively. And as far as my changing some things to suit the flow of the game, allow me to quote John Maynard Keynes, "When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do?"

Summary: Exhaustion is bound to set in, and all wounds—inside and out—begin to heal.

0…0…0…0…0

A cool cloth and stiff numbness were the first things he became aware of. Almost everything hurt to move or wouldn't move at all, and instead he settled for shifting his head and groaning. Eyes opened to a dimly lit room and blurring shapes. He could make nothing out but he smelled his own room, a place he had not seen for some two years now. The cloth was removed and was replaced with a hand smoothing hair away from his face.

"It's about time," a somewhat stern female voice said. A darker shape hovered over his blurred line of sight and a bright light was sent right into his eyes. He turned his head sharply away from it with a pitiful little squeak.

He could say little but managed the words, "What was—?"

"I was checking to see if your pupils would contract. It means you're awake and functioning with some degree of sentient activity," the voice sounded concerned behind the snappy reply. He would know that tone anywhere—Zephyr, however good she was at hiding her feelings, could not keep many secrets from him.

Relief washed over him and he felt himself settle deeper into the pillows. Riku trusted her with his life, and he was able to relax despite his inability to move much. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened since returning. Sora and Kairi were making lovey-eyes at each other and Sora had announced with some degree of nonchalant, "We're back." And then everything went dark. He must have been hurt more than he thought fighting Xemnas. The stiffness he felt suggested he had simply overstrained himself.

As he thought his vision cleared, and everything grew into sharper focus until he was staring with clear detail the posters he'd put up on his ceiling some years ago. The one directly over his bed was an old copy of a movie poster for "Star Wars." He felt a hand on his shoulder gently pulling him forward.

"Riku, you need to sit up," Zephyr said. Her voice was soft and uncharacteristically gentle. Her hands on his shoulders helped him to pull himself up, although he could swear he was hearing every joint in his body creak like an old metal gate. Once upright he looked towards her into her mad gray eyes. They betrayed no emotion as always. Her hair was loose just like the last time he'd seen her, just before he had adopted the Darkness and taken on the form of Xehanort. How long ago was that? Eight months? Ten? Too long, either way. She hadn't changed much at all. He slumped forward and leaned his forehead against her shoulder.

"It hasn't been so long as far as time goes," he murmured. "But it just feels like I haven't seen you in years." He lifted one hand and squeezed hers. She squeezed his back and he felt comforted. He had surprised himself with his attraction to her in the beginning—there wasn't anything really to like about Zephyr, or so popular culture would say. She was usually cynical and rude, and while she might have been considered by some to be "cute" she was probably not what the world would consider pretty. But she matched him. They fit.

"Hey," she lifted his head up off of her shoulder to look him in the eye. "Stop imagining me naked, you've only just woken up."

Riku laughed. Of course—her sense of humour. "Only you could make me laugh when I hurt this much." She looked concerned upon hearing that.

"Okay, I have to play Florence Nightingale now," she told him, pulling the blankets away from his legs. "What hurts?"

"Everything but my left leg. That I can't feel at all."

"You probably won't, not for a little while anyway," she said. "You've been drugged up pretty well, it's to keep you from getting sick with the pain."

Worried, he immediately asked, "What happened?" Xemnas—he remembered being hit in the back and on the left thigh. He looked down. It was bandaged thickly. "Broken?"

"No," she shook her head. "Bashed up pretty badly but not broken. If it was broken you'd be set in plaster all the way up to the crotch." She stroked his hair the way a nursemaid might soothe a frightened child. "Even the best curative magic is only good for external battle wounds. Bone injuries have to heal the old fashioned way. With time." She kissed his forehead.

The door creaked open a crack, and a small figure peeked inside. Zephyr turned and immediately stood, though she kept a hand on him to make sure he wouldn't fall over.

"Majesty," she bowed slightly.

"I thought he'd be awake," King Mickey said. He came over to the bed and hopped up onto the chair next to it. "How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm okay, considering," he said, nodding his head slightly in a sort of half-bow.

"No bowing now, Riku. We're friends now."

Zephyr slowly backed out of the room, nodding to the King and she did so, leaving two friends in peace to talk.

"Where's Sora?" He asked, concerned.

"In his own room with Kairi," the King said reassuringly. "He's in better shape than you are, but he's still weak. You've both been through a lot. But you're both home again, and that's all that matters. Home, and with the ones you love." He glanced knowingly towards the door, as did Riku. When the King looked back again he said bluntly, "She really does love you."

"Since when did you hand out relationship advice?" Riku croaked. He probably shouldn't try to strain himself and talk too much, but he wondered how the King new his Zephyr—or had they just met?

"I kept tabs on you for her," he replied, apparently applying mind-reading techniques. "She was worried and didn't want you getting hurt. I couldn't let her follow you into the Darkness, so I sent her to look after the Queen for me. Every so oftenIwould let hercheck up on you."

"How did I not know about this?" He asked, amazed that King Mickey was so horrible at keeping _his _secret from Sora, but so good at keeping _her_ secret from _him._

"I didn't want to worry you, either," he replied. "I know how badly you wanted to keep your new identity a secret and I was afraid you might… push her away, if she saw you as Xehanort."

Riku sank. "She knew, then?"

The King patted his hand in reassurance. "Yes, but she wasn't afraid. She's stronger than she seems. She's not afraid of much, and she was so determined to be close to you…" he shook his head, slightly amused. "She loves you, for _you."_

Uncertain of having his relationship with Zephyr analyzed by a mouse king, Riku said nothing at all. His cheeks fizzled with embarrassment and also a little regret. He hadn't though about how frightened she must have been for his sake, so worried about where he was and what he was doing, despite hearing of him from the King. He hadn't though much about how badly this had affected Sora and Kairi, either. Nobody knew that he was even alive, let alone in good order. He was so concerned with keeping himself a secret that all but for one person close to him had every reason to assume he was dead.

"Nobody blames you." The King hopped onto the bed from the chair, careful not to step on anything. "And you shouldn't either. They all understand."

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't change what I did. I made them all so afraid that I was dead. I was so wrapped up keeping my Darkness a secret that I let myself die to the rest of the world." Had he been feeling a little stronger he might have cried in frustration and resentment, but he was still too tired to do much else but talk. He was too tired to let the tears come. He looked to the side to keep from having eye contact with the King, studying the bedside table. There was an empty glass and an eye-dropper, some bandages and ointments, and his clothes rolled up neatly the way Zephyr always did it.

"She's been taking good care of you," King Mickey announced. "She hasn't left much. I don't think she even left to sleep. She even fed you milk with an eye-dropper, just to make sure you wouldn't starve."

"Why are you suddenly so interested in this? Up until now I didn't even know you knew about her. Now it's like you're trying to sell me a car or something." Pause. "Bad analogy." Another pause. "But why? Yes, she loves me. And I love her. So stop worrying. And prying."

"Everybody should get a happy ending, Riku," the King told him softly. "You can't change what happened. But you have every power over what happens next." He hopped off the bed and was instantly out of Rikus' line of vision. Instead of looking for him, the young man simply lay flat on his back again and dropped off to sleep.

The next time he was aware, the room was dark and his stiffness had lessened enough that he could sit up and move on his own. Warm weight pressed against his thigh and he looked down to see a dark shroud of hair and a pale face peeking out, sound asleep.

King Mickey had been right about Zephyr not leaving. He stroked her hair and jostled her gently to wake her up.

"Hey, Zephyr, wake up," he murmured. She whimpered and turned up slightly to look at him. She tilted her head and creased her eyebrows. "How long have you been sleeping like this?" He asked. She looked at her watch at the inside of her wrist. One of her quirks.

"Lets see… just after midnight now, I suppose that means I've been asleep for about two and a half hours," she said in hushed tones. "Do you feel okay? Anything hurt?"

"I'm fine, just a little stiff still but nothing serious," he reassured. He stroked her hair again to try and calm her down a bit. "But what I meant was—how long has it been since you slept in a bed? The King said you won't leave here."

"He's right," she said, taking his hand away from her hair. She never did like it when people played with her hair but she didn't mind so much when it was Riku, although she would never let him know that. "I just don't feel comfortable leaving you alone."

"So how long has it been?"

"I think about a week, maybe a little more. I don't know, it's hard for me to say." She stretched her arms out in front of her, careful not to bump his leg. "I suppose I just lost track of time."

"King Mickey says you fed me… with an eye-dropper," he put his hand on her head and she swatted it away like he knew that she would.

"Yes, I did, but only when you were conscious enough to have the reflex to swallow. I didn't want you to dehydrate or starve. I fed you the cream off of the top of the milk. It's loaded with calories, it kept you as alive as I could make you."

"And changed my clothes."

"Well you can deduce that just by looking," she snapped, sitting up taller so she could be nearly eye level with him. "It took quite a lot of effort not to commit what's technically considered 'molestation' when you were mostly naked and alone with me." She shrugged this off by announcing simply, "Your clothes were all wet and smelly, I didn't want you to get rain rot or something."

As much as she tried to shrug everything off and keep her tone cynical and her emotions under control, Riku knew her enough to see through this. She was obviously very worried about him, not wanting to leave him alone even for a few hours so she could have slept. She probably would have left the room, though, if Kairi had come in to check on him. Zephyr never did do well around strangers.

He moved over and made room for her next to him, patting the space. "Come on," he said. "Up."

She might have argued that she was perfectly all right, but she was tired and quite uncomfortably crampy, due to sleeping hunched over for a while. She climbed in next to him and flopped down flat, just realising how tired she was. It had been some time since she'd slept in an actual bed—or had company at night. She smiled a little to herself. Not _that_ kind of company tonight, though. Just… company.

She fell quickly asleep, too tired even to dream.

The sleep lasted some time, and when she woke she felt refreshed. And then panic. If she was refreshed she must have been sleeping a while, which meant anything could have happened while she was down…

To her side, Riku was still sleeping. Face-down in the pillows, drooling all over himself.

For all that he was a beautiful boy, he wasn't particularly elegant most of the time.

She leaned over and kissed his ear, smoothing his hair away. His left hand flexed, as if his dream-self had just dropped something. Zephyr looked at the hand painfully. The wrist and arm were still covered with the white armband—she couldn't bear to look at what had happened to it but she wanted to confront him about it. But later.

"Hey, Riku, it's morning, and I'm walkin' around!" Sora said as he barged in like a true lifelong friend—without knocking. He didn't look too bad. He looked a little weakened and pale, but he was dressed. The only sign of external injury was the wound over his right eye, kept closed with a row of butterfly bandages.

"Sora?" Zephyr asked, turning properly onto her back and then sitting upright. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," he replied curtly."What about _you?"_

"What's it look like? I'm in bed with your best friend." She slid off the bed and stood, careful not to disturb Riku. "What about that cut? Looks pretty bad."

He shrugged it off. "It's just a surface cut," he said. "It only looks bad but it's not."

"You've grown up," she announced, somewhat candidly. "The Sora I met some time ago would probably not be so… casual about it."

"The head wound or you sleeping with Riku?" He asked. Then he shrugged as a way of explaining things, "There's worse things than a head wound. Like finding you in bed with Riku. That's scary."

Zephyr's mouth twitched and her eyes smirked. "You really _have_ grown up." She patted his shoulder in a sort of half-affectionate way before giving him a bump in the direction of the door as a less-than-subtle way of telling him to leave. "I'll let you know when he's up and moving again."

Sora left the room and closed the door. There were worse things than a head wound. And there were worse things than Zephyr.

With Sora gone, she once again settled down next to the bed, where she had faithfully waited on Riku for the last several days. He slept fitfully now, groping the spot where she had slept as if he were trying to find her. Or maybe he was just trying to grope her in his sleep. Boys were boys, even unconscious.

With her hand against his cheek she whispered, "Hush, stop fussing." He quieted for a few seconds before his eyes opened and he slowly sat up. She noticed he was more limber today than he had been earlier. She'd expected his recovery to be fairly quick once he was over the initial hump.

He rubbed his eyes and then looked at her and smiled sleepily. "Morning."

"I take it you feel a little better now?" She asked to confirm her own thoughts. He nodded.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Just after eleven. I nearly slept twelve hours. That's more than I've gotten lately," she said. "I suppose I needed it." She watched him get up and stumble around clumsily, unsteady on legs that had been inactive too long. His bad leg buckled under his weight a few times but he managed to work around it. He changed his clothes and splashed water on his face and hair, all in slow-motion but without any assistance. She was impressed but hardly surprised. Riku would, like her, rather do things on his own in awkward discomfort and potentially fail than to ask for help.

"That was harder than I thought it'd be," he announced with some vague degree of humour, leaning against the bathroom doorframe. He flexed his left hand, stiffer than the right, and rubbed the wrist through the cloth. It itched again. It probably would for a while, at least if he kept it covered. Zephyr watched his movements intently, scary and intense, not moving or saying anything. Riku knew that look, though. It usually meant he was in trouble. Or that she wanted sex.

He was probably in trouble right now, though.

She sat at the edge of the bed and looked over at him. "They itch," she informed him, as if he required a verbal diagnosis. "You should have let them breathe while they healed." She moved over top of the bed and off the other side, then walked right up to him. Then she just got right to the point. "Why did you do it?"

Riku felt uneasy. He knew that she knew but he decided to dodge as long as he could and answered, "I didn't want anybody to see them. They look so… vile."

She slapped him across the cheek with a force he would not have expected from her. It made his ears ring and the cheek burn and tingle. He didn't even get the chance to try to defend himself before Zephyr began to speak.

"I _know_ what those are, Riku," she growled. "They're cutters' scars. I'm not stupid, I can tell what they are by what look like. Why did you do it?"

"I… I don't…" he inhaled shakily and held his breath. He knew that she'd known. He just wished he wouldn't have to explain anything. "I didn't want to do it anymore," he said as he released his breath. The words would come now. "I was so lost and so alone for so long," he shook as he spoke. "I didn't want to do it anymore, I didn't want to keep going towards… nothing. And then I realised that I would have to become Xehanort, and I decided that that was the end."

She slapped him again, not as hard but she hit the same spot. His cheek was full of needles and pins. "You were stupid," she snapped. "It was all stupid. You wanted to take the coward's way out and you were too scared to even get the job done right. And don't try to defend yourself to me."

"I'm not _going_ to defend myself. I don't want to!" He yelled back, having decided that it was more work to keep himself under control than it took to simply lose his temper. He swung his arm aimlessly out in front of him, not intending to hit but merely scare. "Yes, what I did was a stupid thing to do. I know that. But at the time I was so angry and sad and _angry_ and I felt that this was the only thing I could do." He breathed shaky again. This was just a short burst of anger, he knew the fire wouldn't last long. He slowly took some of his composure back and to his surprise his eyes burned and stung and he began to cry. "I won't tell you that you don't understand. You probably do, or you can imagine. I was stupid, I was selfish, but I was so afraid. I was so afraid of what might happen next that I wanted to end it all, and then when I… started to do it…" he swallowed hard. "The last thing in the world that I wanted was to die."

"No matter how badly you think you might want to die, the part of you that wants to live is stronger." Once again she sounded unexpectedly gentle. She didn't even bother leading him to the bed or a chair. They plopped down on the floor and she held him close, crooning like he was a child or a puppy. Tough love had always been her way but she simply couldn't stay angry at him. Riku never cried. It took a lot to even make him visibly saddened, and so as he cried against her it simply wasn't fair that she would keep up her walls as his had crumbled completely. He shivered pathetically, drained and still sobbing slightly.

The sobs slowly stopped and the shivers quieted, but Zephyr still stroked his back and murmured incoherently against his hair. She was comfort when nobody else was around. Riku started breathing easier again and felt lighter. He began to doze in the comfort of her arms. Comfort.

Lazily, casually, he reached for the wrist sleeve and slipped it off. He stared at the marks for a few seconds. The criss-cross pattern of scar tissue was erratic and manic, the madness of a mind on the edge of terror and hopelessness.

"It doesn't look as bad anymore," he remarked as if it were some innocent comment about the weather.

She nodded, apparently satisfied with the damage she'd done for now. She carefully stood up, trying not to bump his leg, and then took his arm and tugged slightly. "Come on and get up. You could probably use to go outside for a bit now that you're up and moving."

How like her to change the subject. He didn't mind though. He stood up, awkwardly but without help, and then leaned some against her the way he had when he'd leaned on Sora. She supported him as best as she could and began to walk towards the door.

"We're going outside?" He asked. She nodded as she walked, holding him up by the belt. "I thought you hated the heat," he said. "Aren't you afraid you might shrivel up and deflate like you always say you will?"

A smile made her mouth twitch. "I think I'll take the chance. I still don't want to leave you on your own."

"You'll be having bodily contact with me, in public. Where other people can see you," he teased, knowing how much she hated any public displays of affection.

Instead of taking the bait like he thought she would, she instead answered, "We all make sacrifices… for love." She gave him a rare smile, which he returned.

Outside, the air smelled of green and spring and salt. The waves were distant from here but he could see the outline of the little spit of land from where this adventure had begun.

He walked on his own out here, using fences or walls for supports. They came upon Sora and Kairi along with Donald, Goofy, and the King, playing some kind of board game beneath a flowering tree. There was an argument going on between Sora and Donald about an alleged cheating. Kairi jumped up when she saw him and ran up to hug him. She remembered his injury and tried to be gentle about it. He swept her up in a tight hug, just happy that she was safe. He still hadn't gotten over that she had risked her life and followed Sora. He was just glad that they were all alright.

The King and Goofy also came up to him to come and see him. Sora and Donald stopped arguing and also came over. There were hugs and playful shoving and teasing and fraternal arm-punches hard enough to cause fractures.

In the midst of their reunion, Riku perked his head up to make a quick look for Zephyr. She had gone just far enough away to be unnoticed by everybody else, but close enough to keep a good eye on him. He nodded in her direction, knowing that the less attention he drew to her, the happier she would be. Someday she would be among this crowd but for now she stayed away.

Underneath the centre of most of the action, the King also spotted her. They exchanged a nod and a bow, and King Mickey went back to the rest of them.

All in good time. After all—everybody would get their happy ending someday.

0…0…0…0…0

Wow, that's the fist thing I've written in ages. I dunno why but I still like Zephyr. Maybe it's just me, but I think Riku needs someone like her around to keep him in line and slap him around occasionally. And also they can go at it like rabbits.

Confused about the title? It comes from what's known as the Florence Nightingale Syndrome—the name for what happens when nurses and patients fall in love. Although, as far as I know, Florence Nightingale didn't actually fall in love with a patient. Go figure.

As per usual, I would appreciate reviews. It's the polite thing to do, sort of like bringing something to dinner. If you're going to sit at my table then at least bring me some cookies. Cookies are not good replacements for reviews at the moment, though. I've eaten my whole chocolate bunny and feel a bit… "urpy."

As a sort of postscript, I've been waiting a while to write/post this story. First I was waiting because I didn't think anybody wanted really to hear about Zephyr anymore, which still sort of irks me. Also I didn't want to post it before everybody else had finished the game. I finished it six days after I got it by rushing through a lot of things. I do NOT recommend trying this. I skipped a lot of meals, a lot of personal hygiene regimens, homework assignments, art projects, sleep, and three classes. My mom still doesn't know that I skipped class. Shh.


End file.
